Total pages in book: 27
Estimated words: 24908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24908 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 125(@200wpm)___ 100(@250wpm)___ 83(@300wpm)
Without the strength of territory and numbers, we will be vulnerable to the Judicial Enforcement and Neo-human coalition, as well as threats from larger orc clans as time goes on. The wars and horrors we encountered when we arrived back on Earth have quieted, this is true, but there is always tension. And tension inevitably needs to find a release. The form that takes can be dangerous.
This structure I bought one week ago at the government auction is turning into a suitable orc structure with my work and a crew of other orcs who work alongside me on building projects on our claim and for anyone that will pay.
It is Sunday. It took time for us to re-learn the human measures of time when we returned. On Iriaza, the days felt endless. Seventy-two earth hours and there was no measure of weeks or months. Some few in captivity kept secret records of what they thought was the passing of Earth time, but it was only when we returned that we understood we were gone for almost three-hundred years.
“I killed it, I cook it.” Oran shoulders Mol aside.
Mol bares his teeth in response, but Raven soothes his arm with a touch and soft words before he starts a brawl with our youngest brother.
Our family gathers on Sundays, putting aside other work and leadership obligations. We are part of our clan Lakktra, but as is tradition, this day is for family. Bonding and sharing a meal grounds us and reminds us of the importance of blood.
And mates.
The thought elicits an unconscious grunt as I sidestep, my face in a twisted grimace. The straps holding my cock down cut deeper into my aching erection. Concentrating on work has been a battle since the second day here re-constructing the former human ranch-type dwelling. At first, I thought I was sick. Orcs rarely take ill, but heat and sweat had covered me.
A dizziness blurred my vision as I carried a twelve-hundred-pound timber up the ladder. The ten orc crew that works under me on construction and restoration projects had left for the day and for that, I was grateful.
The sweat and unsteadiness turned into a blinding red haze as my cocks rose and caught on the edge of the roof as I tried to step from the ladder. The world spun, I lost my balance and fell ten feet onto the overgrown bushes that surround the house.
The timber fell as well, missing me by less than a foot as my kilt flipped up and the throb in my cock, as well as the fall, turned my vision black as everything but the scent that assaulted me disappeared.
I lay there, confusion and lust battling in loops as the instincts of a thousand generations burned inside me. I knew there were humans living in the structure next door but I had yet to see them clearly.
A wall of tall evergreen shrubs standing between our houses wasn’t enough of a barrier for her scent to leave me the hell alone. I was on the edge of obsession, almost ready to accept that fate had chosen me.
Then I found out they are a mated group. A family.
I’ve glimpsed them together since, walking in the street, working in the vegetable garden that takes up most of their fenced back yard and playing with their offspring on the driveway as they teach him to ride a two wheeled human bicycle. There are three. A female, male and child.
The only other sight I’ve had of her, is the outline of her shadow in the upstairs window, holding up her middle finger as I hammer and pound stakes into the roof of the structure at night. It’s peaceful then, and the cooler temperatures help me to focus. Apparently, humans have some sort of problem with that, but what do I care?
She’s nothing to me, and I’m nothing to her…
So why is my mating fire lit for this human who is already mated?
Orcs are never drawn to a mate who has been mated. We are fated. One and only forever. There is something wrong. Maybe I am sick after all, because the scent of this female next door is making me mad.
“If we want this claim, we will need to take it all. Not just this small piece.” Oran turns my way as my mother nods.
“They were only selling this structure and the four open parcels south. I bought what I could.”
“We will buy more,” my mother says. “We have saved almost all our earnings. As well, the new members of the clan bring resources, human money and more bodies to work.”
“That is if the Judicial Enforcement stops taking bribes and keeps the auctions fair. Yarek and his enforcers were not happy when they arrived and there was no more property to buy. They are thugs, adopting the human’s gang style life, dealing smikkaan—a horrible and addictive drug for orcs-- and guns. They are moving into this area and we must be prepared.”